Lightning strikes delay trains in Vic

OVERNIGHT storms and thousands of lightning strikes across Victoria have caused delays for commuters and set a house on fire.

AAPNovember 27, 201211:12am

THOUSANDS of lightning strikes across Victoria have caused long delays on Melbourne's rail network and set a house on fire.

Train services across Victoria were disrupted by lightning strikes that damaged signals, and motorists took double the usual travel time to get into Melbourne on Tuesday morning.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Peter Newham said there had been thousands of lightning strikes.

"There were storms right across Victoria over the last 12 to 24 hours, so thousands of lightning strikes have occurred," Mr Newham said.

Lightning sparked a fire at a home in the outer southeastern suburb of Berwick on Tuesday morning, destroying about 60 per cent of the house, the Country Fire Authority said. No one was home at the time.

The storms were particularly active over Melbourne and far northern Victoria, dropping between five and 30mm of rain in Melbourne's suburbs.

"We've barely had that amount over the previous month or so but had it in a few hours," Mr Newham said.

The lightning strikes and rain caused disruptions for morning commuters, with buses replacing trains between Geelong and Melbourne from 5.30am (AEDT) to 8am as crews repaired damaged signals between Newtown and Werribee.

Trains on the Gippsland line were cancelled as a result of the Geelong line problems. There were delays on the Ballarat and Bendigo lines due to lightning damage.